Work is set to begin sometime after the New Year on a major overhaul of the runway configuration at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport. The project calls for 300 feet of runway on the airport’s main airstrip to be dug up and removed and then rebuilt on the eastern side of the runway in Edgartown.

The project will cost approximately $6.5 million and will be paid for through a combination of federal, state and local money. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will pay for over 90 per cent of the total cost, with the airport paying approximately $165,000.

Resting unfinished on 18th street in Edgartown is a two-story, two-bedroom wonder. The wonder is not revealed so much in the sturdy shingled Colonial construction itself ­— though its new owners will tell you proudly they “just love this house so much” — but in the story of how it came to be here at all.

This home should have met the bulldozer this time last year, by all wisdom.

The Gazette office closes at noon today and reopens Monday. The office will close at noon on Dec. 31 and reopen on Friday, Jan. 2, when the paper will publish as usual. Happy New Year to all our readers!

Christmas Eve Service

The Christmas Eve Service will be at the Edgartown United Methodist Church (Whaling Church) on Dec. 24 at 7 p.m.

The pastors, Rev. Susan Heafield and Pastor Richard Rego, and musicians Martha Child and Cliff Earle invite you to join in this service of worship with heartwarming candlelight, safe, glowing illumination.

Come to hear the story of Jesus, not just a tale to be told but also a new way of living, a story told in Scripture, poetry and song.

New charges of felony drug trafficking were brought this week in Edgartown district court against three defendants charged in one of the biggest heroin busts in Vineyard history.

At the same time there is evidence that the arrests and confiscation of heroin has led to a higher rate of people seeking treatment for drug abuse and withdrawal on the Island.

In the start of what is expected to be another strong season, the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School hockey team rolled over Mansfield at home Saturday 7-1 before taking down perennial power Whitman Hanson two days later 4-2.

The Vineyarders took eight shots on goal in the first period against Mansfield Saturday and connected three times as Jock Cooperrider, Elliot Bilzerian and Tad Gold all found the back of the net. Nick Billingham gave the home team a fourth goal in the second period, and the Vineyarders added three more in the final frame.

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

Dec. 12 59 41 1.64

Dec. 13 58 27 Trace

Dec. 14 33 19 .00

Dec. 15 52 32 .02

Dec. 16 59 40 .21

Dec. 17 44 33 .42

Dec. 18 53 31 .07

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 46º F.

The American Red Cross, Cape Cod and Islands chapter, is looking for nominations for local heroes who live or work on Martha’s Vineyard. Their the heroic act must have been performed between Dec. 15, 2007 and Dec. 25, 2008.

A Vineyard man who was seriously injured in high-speed crash last Saturday night on State Road in West Tibsury has been charged with negligent driving by West Tisbury police.

William Scott, 28, of West Tisbury, was just past the junction of County Road headed up-Island at approximately 12:08 a.m. when he lost control of a 1997 Volkswagen Jetta, crossed the opposite lane at high speed and slammed into an oak tree.

He is cited for failure to stay in marked lanes, speed greater than reasonable and negligent operation of a vehicle.

What follows is the recipe for Holly Eger’s I Love You Chocolate Sour Cream Fudge Cake.